Jim W. wrote: " Jim McK (I think) mentioned 'droppers' in discussing crocus. " The droppers Jim McKenney referred to are those seen in tulips: I'm not sure how old the term is, but it's been used by generations of tulip growers. I've never seen a typical dropper in a crocus, but the stoloniferous/rhizomatous species such as C.nudiflorus are doing essentially the same thing, but more sideways than down. John Grimshaw and I had a chance to discuss those risers in Lycoris when he was in the greater Washington, D.C. area recently. He mentioned then that he had seen them in Galanthus. Perhaps John will be able to chime in and tell us more. Jim McKenney jimmckenney@jimmckenney.com Montgomery County, Maryland, USA, 39.03871º North, 77.09829º West, USDA zone 7 My Virtual Maryland Garden http://www.jimmckenney.com/ <http://www.jimmckenney.com/> BLOG! http://mcwort.blogspot.com/ Webmaster Potomac Valley Chapter, NARGS Editor PVC Bulletin http://www.pvcnargs.org/ <http://www.pvcnargs.org/> Webmaster Potomac Lily Society http://www.potomaclilysociety.org/ <http://www.potomaclilysociety.org/> ________________________________ From: James Waddick <jwaddick@kc.rr.com> To: Pacific Bulb Society <pbs@lists.ibiblio.org> Sent: Friday, November 11, 2011 1:25 PM Subject: [pbs] Bulb Depth - Droppers and Risers Dear Friends, The recent discussion on bulb depth reminded me a situation that I was presented with earlier this year. First, we have had a good discussion of contractile roots, but this is not the situation here. Jim McK (I think) mentioned 'droppers' in discussing crocus. Just what is a dropper? First what it look like. If some bulbs are planted too shallowly they will form something that looks like a stolon from the base of the corm and drop straight down or at an angle to develop a new bulb or corm at a lower depth. The structure of the dropper itself isn't much discussed, but I assume it is some extension of the basal plate and this extension responds to gravity and 'drops' until an optimum depth occurs. Over the years of PBS we have had a number of droppers mentioned. This fall I was sent pix of what appeared to be "risers" in Lycoris radiata. It appeared that the bulb was planted much too deep and it had made a hefty stalk straight up from the basal plate, through the center of the bulb , then up about 5 inches to form an 'identical bulb at a higher level. Both upper and lower bulbs had a similar size and shape, roots and foliage just emerging. I was asked if this was a dropper or what was happening. Although it had some of the features of a dropper, it didn't look right. In my experience a dropper will come from the side or bottom of the top bulb, go down and turn up to form a new bulb at a lower depth. This was two bulbs right on top of each other, there was no up turn of a dropper. I suspected that the original bulb was just planted way too deep since I knew that Lycoris prefer to grow very shallowly. I later learned that these bulbs were dug from a spot that had been altered by adding new soil and in fact were buried way too deep. This is the first time I had seen an actual 'riser'. Anyone else have experience with droppers or risers? Best Jim -- Dr. James W. Waddick 8871 NW Brostrom Rd. Kansas City Missouri 64152-2711 USA Ph. 816-746-1949 Zone 5 Record low -23F Summer 100F +